Henry Ford never said anything more impactful to business than this famous quote and I believe his business mindset continues to ring true to this day - being responsible in business is not just the right thing to do, but the best thing to do.

Socially responsible businesses can be incredibly successful and profitable because people want to buy from, work and partner with them - and this is why ‘people, planet and profit’ are often referred to as ‘The Triple Bottom Line’. So why is this?

As a business, your responsibility begins with your people. After all, a trained, engaged and motivated team will help grow your business from the ground up with less absence, lower turnover and more productivity and so looking after your people is fundamental. We’ve pledged a 10% operative recruitment commitment, focused on employing people from marginalised groups, who would otherwise face barriers finding work.

When it comes to the planet, it’s critical that businesses across all sectors address the three long-term megatrends forecast to affect our future: rising population, resource scarcity and volatility and climate change impact. If these are tackled, communities and the businesses within them can flourish without exhausting raw materials and by lowering carbon emissions we protect our environment.

And finally profit. A report from Imperial College London ‘The Circular Revolution’ investigated the benefits of the circular economy and its findings revealed a potential £29 billion contribution to UK GDP and in excess of 175,000 jobs - which makes a powerful business argument and means the circular economy is a highly effective business tool for growth.

The same Imperial College London report ‘The Circular Revolution’ highlighted: “the focus [of the circular economy] is no longer just environmental, it’s all about the bottom line” and so being a responsible business, and implementing the circular economy, has the potential to help businesses grow.

At Veolia we have gone through a transformational change to address the challenges of the future and have adapted our business model in order to contribute to the circular economy through closed loop solutions. Strategically it’s important that being a responsible business becomes business as usual. This is why we’ve embedded our sustainability objectives into each person’s individual objectives and bonuses, meaning our business success is measured by the added financial, social and environmental value we generate.

Whatever business you’re in, if you seriously want to become a better and more responsible business, as well as positively influencing your bottom line, you should look towards The Triple Bottom Line today.

Veolia is honoured to have won this year’s Business in the Community “Responsible Business of the Year” award for its ‘Resourcing the World’ campaign and would like to congratulate everyone involved.

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About Me

Because we are all tempted to sacrifice our souls for profit, power, position, prestige, privilege, promotions, popularity, pride, prejudice, politics, prosperity, possessions, or pleasures. So by changing our paradigms, we can become the best versions of ourselves and help make our world a better place to live.

In this blog, we highlight bad practices using examples from current and past events, then we show what the better choices are. This is not to show that good always triumphs over evil, but only to show that better exists and that it's possible for people to operate in the better way. The history of business and how we grew to where we are gives us a perspective that things have been just as bad in the past and eventually got better, so there's still hope that things will cycle to the “better” yet again. We believe this blog is part of pushing the rope of improvement up the hill of progress. If you are dissatisfied with the status quo and looking for a better way to live and work, then bookmark our blog and follow us by email.

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BRYAN J. NEVA, SR. is a writer and electronics engineer from San Diego, California. He served as a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy during the Cold War and early War on Terror. He subsequently earned a BSEE and MBA degree from Old Dominion University, and then went on to work in the defense, medical device, and aerospace industries. A convert to Roman Catholicism, Bryan is a strong proponent of Catholic Social Justice and Economic teachings akin to conscientious capitalism and responsible, servant leadership. From his diverse background, he has a counterintuitive view of business management that values people over profits and the needs of the many over the wants of the few.

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ALLEN F. LAUDENSLAGER, JR. is a semi-retired writer from Seattle with a business and management background spanning over fifty years. After serving in the Army in Vietnam, he went on to work as an assembly line worker, a foreman, an electrician, a cabinetmaker, a small business owner, an electronics technician, a supervisor, a manager, a senior project manager, and a technical writer. With the knowledge and experience he has gained over a lifetime, he brings an insightful view of life, business, and management in today's global markets.